Should Cordy Glenn's Illness Be a Concern for the Buffalo Bills?

For a team trying to snap a 14-year playoff drought, the month of July has not been pretty for the Buffalo Bills. The start of the month brought news that Kiko Alonso had torn his ACL and would miss the entire 2014 season. With training camp set to open in less than 48 hours, there is some concern surrounding the health of Cordy Glenn, according to WGR 550's Joe Buscaglia.

It was no secret that the starting left tackle was battling an illness this offseason that caused him to miss the mandatory minicamp last month and be placed on the Active/NFI List this week. Any player put on this list can return to practice as soon as he is cleared by the team's medical staff.

Being placed on this list does not necessarily automatically raise a cause for concern, but the part that should worry some fans is how vague team officials are when discussing it. General manager Doug Whaley was asked if Glenn's season was in jeopardy, and Buscaglia quoted him saying:

We don't think so at this time. It's just gonna have to see on how he progresses. We hope not," Whaley said. "We're still waiting on some reports on him, but it looks like it's gonna be one of those day-to-day things and we'll see how it progresses.

Buscaglia mentions in his article that tackle Chris Hairston started training camp last year on this list and ended up missing the entire season. This is not to say the two are connected or Glenn's illness will force him to miss the entire season, but this is something worth watching during camp.

If the team were to lose its starting left tackle for the season, it would certainly be a major blow to this offensive line. The team already had three training camp battles along the offensive line entering camp at left guard, right guard and right tackle.

If the team is to add left tackle to this list of position battles, there are two names that should immediately jump to the top of the list to replace Glenn. The first is Chris Hairston, who missed the entire season last year due to injury, but has experience playing the tackle position.

The other is seventh-round draft pick Seantrel Henderson, who enters camp as the starter according to GM Whaley, as reported by John Murphy of WGR 550:

This is a huge opportunity for the rookie, who was told after he was drafted this is his "one chance," according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. The tackle from the University of Miami battled off-the-field issues throughout college, which was one of the reasons he was still available in the seventh round. Entering camp as a starter is a great chance for a rookie like Henderson to impress the coaching staff.

Luckily for the Bills, they do have options if Glenn is out for an extended period of time. The best option for this offense, though, still remains having Glenn on the field protecting EJ Manuel's blind side. Hopefully he is healthy enough to return to practice sooner rather than later, but it is certainly an issue worth monitoring.